Silent but Stronger
by sparkplug-and-metalface
Summary: CURRENT REWRITE IN PROGRESS! Due to continuous comments about her strength; indirectly or not, Lucy trains to get stronger and makes friends with the unexpected along the way. Based after the Infinity Clock/Keys of the Starry Night but before the GMG onwards.
1. Chapter 1: Recent Events

Welcome to 'Silent But Stronger'! New readers: Hi!, Old readers: I'm so sorry...

I first started this FanFiction in the Summer Holidays of 2015, I managed to keep up with myself for a few months before I grew bored. In the Summer Holidays of 2016, I said that I was going to rewrite SBS, and I did... for the first two chapters before I grew bored again. So here I am for a third time, with no commitments to worry about (e.g. exams etc.) for at least a few months.

All I ask of you is that you please be patient with my lazy ass as I _try_ to do my civil duty and complete this FanFiction.

If you want to leave any critiques, comments or suggestions (or typos and grammar errors) please feel free to do so. Just no threats please :)

I hope you enjoy the re-mastered Silent But Stronger.

* * *

 **CHAPTER 1**

Sitting alone at the end of the bar sat a young blonde haired woman known as Lucy Heartfilia.

The ex-heiress had changed a lot in the recent months. Instead of the pigtails that had become the norm, her blonde locks were pulled up in a high ponytail, her bangs loose as they framed her face. Her clothes had changed too, instead of her old blue and white Heart Kreuz getup, she donned a red v-neck polo shirt that revealed a fair amount of cleavage, a pair of jean shorts that ended just above the knee, and on her feet, she clad a pair of blue cloth TOMS-style slip-ons.

Sipping on the glass of water in front of her, Lucy scanned the guildhall for any of her friends to talk to. Gajeel, Wendy and their exceeds had been absent for a few weeks, as the dragon-slayers had recently found out that both of their teachings from Metallicana and Grandeeney were missing some vital information and training that the other had; Lucy had gathered the vague notion that Wendy hadn't been taught to track properly, while Gajeel was missing the knowledge of reasoning in their instincts and such. Laxus and the Raijinshuu were out too, but Lucy didn't have the slightest idea where, probably on a mission somewhere, what with Laxus' S-Class status. Cana was out as well, spending time with her dad before he left on one of his long missions, otherwise she would have most likely been Lucy's first choice.

The recently returned Team Natsu occupied the front of the guild, telling some tale of their latest mission, Lisanna alongside them. Lucy would have been over there with them but due to the recent events of Lucy taking a leave of absence from the team, they had grown distant. Unlike most would immediately think, she was not kicked off of the team, her leave was motivated through the continuous mention from Capricorn that she needed to continue to push her magic levels to expand them, along with some indirect comments from Natsu and Erza that she was weaker than she should have been. She doubted that they realised what they were saying but didn't say anything to oppose their thoughts as they voiced them. Despite her self-assurance that they meant nothing of it, if you hear something often enough, it starts to sink in. So instead of moping around, Lucy gathered her team together and they sat down and talked about her intentions of growing stronger and her leaving the team temporarily.

At first, they were completely against the idea, believing that she meant that she didn't want to go on missions with them ever again, but after she reassured them that she only wanted to get stronger, to train herself and her spirits, they complied.

Due to her training, she naturally spent less time inside the guild, instead, taking to the forest clearings that surrounding the building, and when she wasn't training, she was either inside the guild, at home, or on a mission.

To begin with, Capricorn had helped her to devise a schedule for her life, along with a diet-plan, with the help of her other spirits, which worked well. Lucy started off her day by summoning Loke; who would join her for a light breakfast, a morning stretch, followed by a jog up to the forests that surrounded the guild, where she would do the exercises and tasks set on her timetable, summoning various spirits to expand her magic container. Mostly, she was set to defeat an opponent; one or more of her spirits through sparring, obstacle courses were also a popular occurrence. Gemini would copy various opponents that Lucy had faced in the past, or even her guild mates, not only did this help to strengthen her, she also learnt the strengths and weaknesses of her guild mates. She would then make her way into the guild to shower off and have a snack. Later, she would leave the guild during the afternoon and go to one of the natural lakes further into the forest where she could train in a multitude of terrains, and maybe a swim if she was up to it.

Coming back from her thoughts, Lucy noticed the Master was sitting next to her on the bar, asking her to come through to the office, agreeing, she followed the small, but strong man to his office in the back of the guild.

Stepping into the Master's office, she sat at one of the well-worn armchairs that Makarov gestured to after closing the door behind her. Hopping up onto the chair behind his desk, he opened up one of the drawers and pulled out a piece of parchment and set it on the desk before the celestial spirit mage.

"I have a mission I would like you to do" he said, motioning to the leaf of parchment.

Lucy blinked once... twice... three times "right?..."

Looking at Lucy's blank expression, Makarov sat down on top of a stack of papers on his desk and began to explain the mission.

"There is a dark guild that I believe you managed to take down well before the Tenrou incident at the merchants guild, Love and Lucky, yes?" Lucy nodded,

"well they appear to be causing trouble again at a smaller branch of the merchant guild in Shirotsume, they have been stealing goods from the store houses there and threatened to take the workers hostage in the building if they don't hand over requested stock. No-one is in any danger as of yet but they are causing a ruckus for the merchants who work and trade in that branch of the guild, the Love and Lucky corporation has sent out a request and I would like you to take it" he explained.

"why me though? You have plenty of powerhouses that could take them down with a lot more ease than me" Lucy questioned.

Makarov looked Lucy in the eye and spoke softly "You have managed to do it before, I'm sure you can do it again" he reassured.

Lucy sighed "I know you've noticed my training with my spirits Master... It's just... you have seen how hard I have been training to grow stronger and to learn the Planetary Arts and I just don't think that I am ready to try them in a practical situation yet"

"So that's what you've been doing...WAIT ... the PLANETARY ARTS?! I THOUGHT THAT WAS ONLY A LEGEND!" the white haired man exclaimed, his eyes wide.

Lucy smacked a hand to her forehead "I think that Capricorn is a better person to talk about this, if I might summon him?" she enquired as she fiddled with her keys.

Giving a quick nod of consent, Lucy silently called Capricorn to her side where he appeared with a quick burst of light.

"What can I do for you Lady Lucy?" the goat spirit enquired politely "I don't believe that it is time for training yet"

"Hello Capricorn, I know it's not time for my training at the moment. A- erm, situation has arisen and I was wondering if you could please explain to Master about the Planetary Arts... i might of accidently mentioned about it when discussing my training" she trailed off, smiling a small but sheepish smile.

"I trust that whatever you discover through this meeting will not be leaked to others" Capricorn grunted, looking blankly at Makarov, making him sweatdrop and nod his assurance.

"I swear that nothing will be leaked" To prove his point, he murmured the incarnation for a silencing charm to raise itself around the room before looking intently to the duo before him.

"Before we start, can you finish explaining the mission Master?" Lucy enquired, smiling at the man.

"Of course, my dear. Capricorn, isn't it? Well I have received a request to assist with clearing out a dark guild from the merchants 'Love and Lucky' at the Shirotsume branch and I would like for Lucy to take care of it due to her experience with the guild"

"Thank you. Until Lady Lucy has mastered the Planetary Arts, stressful situations can but dangerous if she attempts to use them, and I have a feeling that the fewer people who know then the better" the spirit confided.

"Of course" Makarov murmured "please continue"

"Ok, I will start from the beginning. I am not sure if you are aware but due to Lady Lucy saving and returning Leo, or Loke as you may know him to the Celestial Spirit World the Zodiac has been reinstated as the second in command during the Kings absence, and the temporary substitute for the Zodiac is indeed more powerful but we have the heritage as second in command.

They are the God Keys or the Planetary Arts as it was mentioned earlier, also known as the Planetary Keys. Anyway, during the incident with Leo, the King and Lady Lucy had a direct audience and during the process became somewhat, friends, he know favours her word in confrontation"

Makarov's jaw dropped. Despite the secrecy and discretion that surrounded Celestial Spirit Magic, the Celestial Spirit King was one of the most powerful beings in the magic world and one of his children was friends with him, something that sounded as if it had never happened before.

"As a thanks for reinstating the Zodiac and bringing the truth into the light, his highness offered my Lady the chance to learn the Planetary Arts, to wield the Keys of the Gods. So myself along with Leo, Virgo, and the rest of the Zodiac in her possession were entrusted as her Spirits and friends to teach her of the arts and train her in every way possible, so far she has acquired 5 of the 8 keys, in equivalent to as many Arts. Lady Lucy's training should only take a matter of weeks to complete, however, she can still use her gate keys without a doubt" Lucy shifted in her seat, her cheeks flushed slightly as she awaited Makarov's reaction.

After a few silent moments he cleared his throat. "Well, my child I still believe that you are the right person for the job, you'll be able to get the job done quickly and effectively with minimal damage to the surrounding area, did I mention about the reward?" Lucy shook her head, after quietly thanking Capricorn for his assistance he returned to the Spirit World.

"And what might the reward be Master?" Makarov jumped back up to his feet on the desk

"The reward will be 250,000 jewel and an unknown relic, which I have been lead to believe it to be a key"

Snapping her head up she looked him in the eye and in all seriousness said "I'll do it, when do I leave?"

"Now" he hands her a flyer with a 'Urgent' stamp across the top

"I'll see you when I return Master..." she said, standing up and heading towards the door.

Just before she left the office, she heard Makarov call her back

"Lucy, my child, whenever I give out specific missions to anyone, I like them to check in via communications lacrima on their return, would you mind doing the same?" he asked, passing her a slip of card from the desk with the contact information for the guild's lacrima on it.

"Of course, see you when I return Master" she said, closing the door behind her, her mind occupied with the possible key she could receive if she completes the job.

* * *

Lucy tapped her foot on the ground as she waited at the ticket booth, her train pass ready in her hand. Smiling at the clerk as she was called forwards, she handed over the small card holder that contained the train pass from when her father still owned the railway. Luckily when her father lost the business, part of the contract was that the train passes held by herself were to permanently remain in effect. The booth clerk handed her a ticket before she headed towards the train.

Walking along the platform, she climbed into one of the quieter looking carriages and took a seat on one of the many vacant benches and pulled the book she was currently reading out of the small bag that she used for journeys such as this, Virgo was storing the bag she kept packed in her apartment for missions in the Spirit World.

Opening up her book to the marked page, she slid her battered bookmark from between the leafs of paper and tucked it into the back cover before picking up where she left off, only taking a few moments to immerse herself in the storyline.

* * *

Just over three hours later, Lucy was wandering around Oshibana, waiting for the connection that would take her to Shirotsume. She had decided to take a walk around the town until her train was ready for boarding, and as a result, was browsing through the market in the centre of town.

Walking up to one of the tradesman's stalls; an armourers, Lucy's eyes were drawn to a silver wrist cuff that was designed with intricate runes carved into it. On closer inspection it had anti-theft and anti-detection enchantments and allowed the user to use basic requip magic.

"How much for this?" she asked, calling over the owner, still examining the shining metal.

"6000 jewel love" the man answered as he put down the pamphlet that he was reading over.

"I'll take it" she agreed with a grin, digging around in her pocket for the right amount of jewel notes.

"Here you go, 6000 jewel exactly" she said, placing the money into his outstretched palm.

"Thank you!" the man shouted after her as Lucy continued on her way.

As she slid the cuff over her wrist, she adjusted it until it rested comfortably before hovering a hand over Horologium's key, she was informed that she still had twenty minutes until her train departed and decided that she had time to stop an get drink along the way from one of the many cafés that she had passed.

* * *

Arriving in Shirotsume, Lucy started looking around for an inn to stay in for the night. A smallish looking hotel with white wash walls caught her eye. After checking the time with Horologium, Lucy decided to see if there were any vacancies as it was getting late.

The mage walked through the door and up to reception.

"Good Evening, welcome to the Signalman's, how can I help you?" came the smooth voice of the receptionist.

"Hello" Lucy greeted "I would like to book a room for two nights please"

"Okay..." the receptionist mumbled, tapping the request into the lacrima screen on the desk.

"We have a double room available; breakfast included" she offered.

Lucy nodded, "That'll do great, thank you" she smiled.

"Okay, that will be 8000 jewel to be paid on departure"

Once the receptionist handed over the key to the room, Lucy made her way to her room on the second floor. She noticed that the room was nicely decorated, sticking to warmer colours; mainly browns and reds. There was a dark leather couch sitting before the lacrima screen, a small coffee table in between, on which a leather-bound book was resting; most likely the hotel information guide. Next to the window was a small, matching leather armchair that overlooked the small cobbled street with a tall lamp in the corner. The bed was a regular sized double bed with white sheets, a few red throw cushions scattered here and there, and a blanket resting at the foots of it. A small wooden dresser was set next to the bed, and there was an ensuite bathroom fitted with a deep bathtub and a showerhead, a toilet and a small basin, the towel rack beside it held several red towels of different sizes.

Summoning Virgo, who dropped off her bag, Lucy thought that she would try out the bathtub and promptly set the taps to run.

The spirit mage wandered back into the main room to grab her wash bag, to find Virgo was holding out the small bag with both hands, her head bowed.

"Here you go Princess. Punishment?"

Lucy smiled at the maiden and took it from her hands. "Not today Virgo, thank you for your help" she said. Virgo left for her own realm and the blonde stripped down for her bath.

* * *

Hopping onto the bed, still warm from her bath, Lucy grabbed the room service menu and skimmed through it before calling down to reception. As she waited for room service to arrive, she stood by the window and looked over the small town. She could just about see the merchants guild about half a mile from the inn. Drawing a mental checklist of what she needed to get done tomorrow, she absentmindedly looked up to the slowly darkening sky, the midnight blue blanket washing over the atmosphere, the stars and constellations twinkling along with the moon. Not a cloud was in sight.

A knock at the door roused her from her thoughts. Opening the door, she smiled at the waiter who brought her food up and thanked him before closing and locking the door again. Lucy took a seat on the sofa and set the tray of food on top of the coffee table. She then poured herself a cup of tea from the porcelain teapot.

Taking a sip, she began her meal, a pasta salad was on the menu for her tonight according to her diet. The silence surrounding her made her crave the clutter, noise and mess that her team provided. Letting out a small huff, she chastised herself

' _It's you who left Lucy, you wanted to get stronger_ '

The blonde nodded to herself firmly, and instead of dwelling on the past times that would return sooner or later, she turned the lacrima screen on and flicked through the channels until something caught her eye. She settled on a romantic comedy, a film that she missed the name of.

It wasn't long until her eyes began to droop, the clock on the bedside table reading that it had just gone midnight. Placing the empty crockery back on the tray, she left it on the table and started to get ready for bed.

Having brushed her teeth, she turned out the lights and climbed into bed, almost immediately drifting into the darkness of sleep.

 **END OF CHAPTER**

* * *

So that was the first chapter, I hope you enjoyed it. If you didn't, well, the doors to the right...

Reviews welcome (as I said earlier)

Thanks again,

sparkplug-and-metalface


	2. Chapter 2: The New Team Natsu?

Right here's chapter 2, hope you like it. I'm currently on a role so please, bear with me if I crash for a few hours :)

If you want to leave any critiques, comments or suggestions (or typos and grammar errors) please feel free to do so.

Enjoy chapter 2 of the re-mastered Silent But Stronger.

* * *

 **CHAPTER 2**

The next morning Lucy woke up to the sound of birds chirping outside her window, moaning as she left the land of sleep. She lay around for a few minutes, letting her body wake up naturally before taking a look at the clock. Seeing that it had just past 8 o'clock, she ran through the list she had mentally penned last night as she sat up, the sheets pooling to her waist while her shirt had ridden up to the undersides of her breasts.

 _'First, get ready and have breakfast'_ she thought as she slid out of bed; narrowly avoiding snagging her foot in the sheets and made her way into the bathroom. Once she had taken care of her business, she proceeded to brush her teeth, followed by brushing her blonde locks into a high ponytail. She stretched out her shoulders as she re-entered the main room, wandering over to the dresser to pick out something to wear.

A good half hour later, Lucy was sitting in the inn's dining room, munching on a piece of toast thickly coated in jam that she had picked up from the buffet, a glass of orange juice and a strawberry yoghurt were set a little further past her plate. She had decided to swap out her jean shorts for a set of black jeans and her slip-ons for a pair of brown boots that came half way up her calf for reasons of practicality. Her torso was clad in a grey tank top and she donned a blue denim jacket.

Taking the folded up mission request out of her pocket, she read over it once again.

 _[URGENT]_

 _OUR MERCHANTS GUILD; LOVE AND LUCKY IS BEING THREATENED BY DARK MAGES._

 _WORKERS ARE UNSAFE AS THE THREAT OF HOSTAGES LOOM OVER OUR HEADS._

 _PLEASE SEND HELP IMMEDIATELY TO ASSIST IN RIDDING OUR TOWN OF THE DARK MAGES._

 _PLEASE HELP US!_

 _LOCATION : SHIROTSUME, FIORE_

 _REWARD: 250,000 JEWEL AND AN UNKNOWN RELIC_

 _PLEASE CONTACT THE SHIROTSUME TOWN HALL SECRETARY VIA *45698* TO GIVE ASSISTANCE._

After she'd re-studied the flyer -having spoken to the employers via lacrima the day before- she headed off towards the merchants, rerunning through her plan of action in her head.

A few hours later, Lucy was ready to enter the guild, it turns out that the situation had escalated to the extreme, the dark guild; Naked Mummy, had taken the small branch of Love and Lucky hostage overnight. The loading bay doors were closed, prompting her to summon Virgo to dig a tunnel in as she had the last time.

Once she was inside the guild, she took in her surroundings, she was crouched behind a stack of crates that were scattered about the place with her pink haired masochistic spirit. She could see the hostages, they were tied and gagged in the middle of the room, a clear guild mark was visible on the exposed chest of the guard.

Quietly creeping over to a crate that was opportunely placed, Lucy placed her hand on Virgo's arm and mentally told her of her plan; a nifty trick that she had learnt was possible through her training.

 _'Right Virgo, I'll take him out, then I want you to chain him up and free the hostages'_ she decided.

 _'Of course Princess'_ the spirit nodded.

Standing up slowly, although not to her full height, Lucy summoned her whip from her newly purchased bracelet and snapped it out to its full length. With a precise snap of her wrist, she had the lookout wrapped up in the leather length. Using the momentum she had over him, she pulled him closer and sent a swift yet effective blow to his temple, knocking him out.

As soon as her whip was unravelled, Virgo was binding him in her shackles and tying him to one of the large beams that run from the floor to the ceiling.

The hostages looked on with wide eyes as the maiden banished their ties and helped them to their feet, checking to see if they were all alright.

Just as Lucy was about to move towards the captives, a rough hand clamped over her mouth. Instead of panicking like she would of done merely months before, she threw her head back and head butted what she could only presume was a chin. Hearing a groan, she pushed aside her own pain from the impact and Virgo shackled him as well, knocking him out for good measure.

She heard footsteps emerging from the warehouse office as three other members from the dark guild entered. She immediately summoned Sagittarius to send arrows to their feet as she cracked her whip in their direction. Taking their stunned expression as advantage, she charged.

Dodging a gush of water heading towards her by swinging up into the rafters of the building with her whip, she summoned Loke to assist her, Virgo and Sagittarius. With the four of them working together in practised routine, the enemy fell like flies. Virgo shackled the rest of the mages and handed them over to Lucy while mumbling something about deserving punishment.

Dismissing Virgo and Sagittarius back to the Spirit World she dragged the unconscious mages through the corridors and out of the building while Loke escorted the workers out too. As soon as she was outside, she pulled out the communications lacrima that she carried and called the Rune Knights to come and arrest the dark guild mages.

Within the hour, the offending mages had been arrested and Lucy had collected her reward from the towns secretary who had thanked her profusely for saving their main source of trade. The blonde had merely said that she was glad she could help, wincing slightly as her head throbbed.

When she arrived back in her room she rummaged through her medicine bag, trying to find some painkillers for her head. Successful in her hunt, she noted that she needed to top up on her tablets and such as she popped the last two pills in the tray, swilled a few gulps of water down afterwards and passed out on the bed.

~oOo~

Sitting on the 10:39 train back to Onibus the next day, Lucy called Master Makarov to inform him of her successful completion of the mission and that she will be at the guild later to discuss it at his request. Taking a sip of the coffee she had grabbed as she left Shirotsume, she realised that she had about 2 and a half hours until her stop.

She took the relic out of her bag, which was indeed a key, but not one that she recognised.

The key looked like a regular silver key to the untrained eye, but Lucy noticed the differences immediately. The weaving 14 main stars of the constellation of the Dragon; Draco, were skilfully engraved into the key head. It was in almost pristine condition and was covered in sections of what seemed to be dark blue scales when it caught the light.

"I can't wait to meet you..." Lucy murmured softly, as running her marked hand up and down the key that possibly opened the gateway to a new friend.

~oOo~

After making the connection from Onibus to Magnolia, Lucy quickly dropped off her bag at home and made her way out of town and up the hill to the guildhall.

She pushed open the doors and headed straight towards the bar, calling out her greetings to her guild mates.

"Hey Mira, is Master in his office?" she asked, noticing that the short man was not on top of the bar counter.

"Yes, he's been up there most of the day. Team Natsu caused an awful lot more damage on their mission the other day, half a town!" she said sweetly.

"Jeez! He must be swamped then" after a few moments she continued, "Thanks Mira, I'll see you later" the blonde said as she made her way through to the back of the guild.

Knocking on the office door, she was called in.

"Lucy, my child, take a seat, how was your mission?" Master Makarov asked, hopping up to sit on top of the desk.

"It went really well! There was zero damage, and 100% reward" she grinned.

After telling the Master about the mission, he asked about the relic, to which her grin grew even wider, if possible.

"It was a key, but you're never going to believe which one" she said excitedly, her chocolate brown orbs shining bright.

The excitement practically radiating off of her, Makarov looked at her, puzzled.

"Ok then, which is it?" he questioned, curiously.

"Draco the Dragon" she announced before summoning the key to her hand from her new dimension storage cuff, unknowingly impressing him further.

"Would you like to meet him Master? I haven't made the contract yet" she asked, he nodded.

"Is now a good time?" she questioned excitedly, practically jumping in her seat.

Standing up he hopped down from his desk and motioned for her to head towards the door. Complying, they walk out of his office and head out through the back door, both wondering about the spirit they are going to meet.

When they left through the back entrance, they didn't notice Laxus and his team following them.

After walking a few miles into the forest, to where Lucy usually trained with her spirits, the guild master stepped off to the side and Lucy walked to the middle of the glade. Looking towards Gramps who nodded, the blonde took up her summoning stance and shouted

"I call upon the realm of the Celestial Planes, O spirit answer my summons! Open, Gate of the Dragon, Draco!"

A huge, blue magic circle appeared before them as Lucy watched on in anticipation, in a dark flash, a large body appeared on top of the magic circle and as the light faded a dragon stood in its place. Easily as big as Acnologia, it let out a ferocious roar into the sky, the noise rumbling over the surrounding area, most likely for miles.

Lucy grinned up at the dragon before her as it tucked it's wings underneath its dark blue body and settled down on the ground.

After a few moments a loud rumbling voice sounded

"Would you look at that... Lucy Heartfilia... you're the talk of the Spirit World did you know?"

Blushing slightly, she stared up in its yellow, slit eyes and grinned

"I wasn't aware... to be honest, would it be anything to do with Stache-Face's offer?" after a few seconds of silence, she continued "would you like to make a contract?"

Lucy watched as he somewhat smirked back, his fangs poking over his lower lip.

"I would ..love to form a contract with THE Lucy Heartfilia, Leo is always talking about his princess"

"hehe, what days are you available?"

"For you, everyday" her blush spread further across the bridge of her nose before she asked

"I presume you wield the arts of Celestial Dragon, similar to the other dragons?"

"Very much so. I also have a human form which is less of a strain on your magic container but how long have I been out? 5 minutes at least and your reserves are still over three-quarters full that's impressive, I knew Leo said you were strong but that's incredible, I haven't been in the human world for centuries, anyway..."

Lucy beamed proudly.

"I will switch to my human form, it may be easier for us to converse.

In a shimmer of gold, the large dragon faded from view, it's essence plummeting downwards into a much smaller figure which was slowly being revealed.

Out of the golden haze, a tall man stepped out. Standing at roughly 6ft 1", Draco stood taller than Lucy, with jet black hair that was slicked back over his head and ended at the base of his neck. He donned a dark blue dress shirt with a golden neck tie, a pair of dark dress pants and a pair of brown leather boots.

"...wow..." Lucy mumbled, her cheeks tinted pink.

Draco let out a rumbling laugh.

"Princess, you should know that your jaw has dropped... Maybe I am simply too handsome for words, I'm sure that Leo doesn't have this effect on you" he teased.

Lucy's cheeks burned.

"...shut up" she muttered.

Quickly regaining her composure, she and Draco conversed for a few more minutes before he said

"Well I'm afraid my Lady that I am required back in the Spirit World, I would recommend calling out Capricorn and ask him to continue your training, Goodbye my Lady " the magic circle reappeared and his body dissolved into the air.

Letting out a breath, Lucy turned to Master and he looked up at me, she let out a giggle and he let out a chuckle.

"Well that was interesting..." he said.

"hmmmm"

"Anyway, Master, thank you for coming to see him, I'm going to call Capricorn and start training for the next art"

"Good luck, Lucy, at least now I have an insight now to how much power it is your wielding from the arts you have mastered" letting out a breath he turned away

"I will see tomorrow, don't push yourself to hard, Good night" as he walked away she called her goodbyes and summoned Loke and Capricorn to her side to begin her training.

"Ok let's go!" Lucy shouted as she tightened my ponytail.

~oOo~

That morning, the Raijinshuu had returned to the guild. They spent the better half of the day watching the doors, waiting for a certain blonde to turn up. The reason being the silver key they had received as part of their reward, none of them had a use for it, so it only made sense for Lucy to have it; and although none of them would say, they hoped to give it as an apology gift for everything with the Phantom Lord debacle and Fantasia.

Not finding her anywhere, they had headed to Master's office to report back on the S-Class mission they had taken last week.

Later that day, Laxus and Bickslow were sitting at their usual table at the back of the guild, while Freed and Evergreen went to get drinks from Mira. The lightning slayer was still looking out for Lucy. Team Natsu weren't in, neither was little sky dragon, must be on a mission he decided.

Turning back to the table, Freed and Ever had returned and there was now a beer placed in front on him. Bickslow was talking to his babies, Evergreen was reading her magazine about god knows what and Freed was reading whatever it is he is researching now, who knew with him.

A couple of hours later he heard the doors open and glanced over and saw who he was looking for; she seemed elated for some reason or another. The last time he saw her this happy was a couple of months ago, just after he was reinstated to the guild, she was still prancing around in skirts so short that he'd seen her lace panties a few times- God was that a piece of heaven- and tops so tight that her jugs were practically falling out back then.

The aforementioned blonde glanced around and headed towards their table... and then walked past them and towards Gramps' office, just as he was about to stop her, Ever and Bicks got into an argument about Bicks' pervy comments therefore distracting him. After breaking it up, Laxus turned back to the corridor and saw no sign of the spirit mage, although her scent lingered; something spicy mixed with vanilla.

Keeping an eye out for Blonde when she came back out, Laxus pulled his Soundpod over his ears and cranked up the volume to drown out the self-proclaimed 'Queen of the Fairies' shouting and Bick's cackling.

It was about half an hour later when Lucy emerged, his grandfather in tow. Wondering what the hell was going on the slayer motioned for his team to stay put as he stood up and trailed them out to the back of the guild and into the forest, staying hidden in the shadows for the most part.

They watched as Lucy stood into the middle of a large clearing and Gramps stepped off to the side. The busty blonde summoned a key from seemingly nowhere.

Turning towards Master, who nodded, she took up a stance and called out:

"I call upon the realm of the Celestial Planes, O spirit answer my summons! Open, Gate of the Dragon, Draco!" the key in her right hand raised high above her head.

Laxus' eyes widened, she couldn't be serious, he thought.

A massive blue magic circle appeared. Through the dark light he could see a body and as it cleared it took the form of a giant blue dragon, as it let out a roar he winced. Casting a look at his grandpa, who didn't look as shocked as he probably should, he came to the conclusion that he already knew.

After what seemed like forever, the Dragon which Laxus had learned was called Draco, returned back to where it came from.

 _'I would hate to be on the wrong side of an angry Blondie now'_ he thought.

He could make out the majority of the conversation, and felt an unnervingly familiar jealousy rise in his stomach as he saw her blush at the dragons teasing.

Once his grandfather had left, he stayed and watched the blonde run through her training drills with the lion and the goat spirits, an occasional other appearing every now and then.

Around an hour later, she sat down on her knees and took several deep breaths as sweat dampened her body. Loke handed her a bottle of water before disappearing in a shimmer of gold.

She downed several long gulps, swallowing heavily until her thirst was quenched, before pouring the rest of the water over her head. The stream of liquid caused her to moan slightly at the sensation, but Laxus didn't notice, far too busy staring at her now see through white tank top, which unknowingly revealed the straining nipples of the blonde's heaving breasts through her sports bra.

Deciding that it probably wouldn't look great if the smaller blonde were to notice him creeping, he took one last indulgent sniff in her scent, which he could now identify as vanilla and cinnamon, and then started his trek back towards the guildhall.

 **END OF CHAPTER**

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Hope you liked it, reviews are welcome. Any requests, please let me know.

sparkplug-and-metalface


	3. Chapter 3: Orion the Hunter

Hello! Here is chapter 3!

I'm actually proud that I have actually uploaded another chapter in less than 24 hours. Hopefully I can keep this up.

Again, if you want to leave any critiques, comments or suggestions (or typos and grammar errors) please feel free to do so.

Enjoy chapter 3 of the re-mastered Silent But Stronger.

* * *

 **CHAPTER 3**

Lucy didn't return to the guildhall again that evening, in fact, it was another three weeks before anyone saw Lucy again.

After a day had passed, and then another, and another, and Lucy still hadn't been seen at all, Laxus went to ask his grandfather if he knew where she was. The story that he received was entirely unexpected. Makarov had told him that she had gone away to train for a few weeks.

The fact that she was training wasn't surprising as the lightning slayer had watched one of her sessions and knew that it was a perfect combination of combat and intellect that the blonde needed to improve her magic. It was the fact that she felt the need _to_ train that shocked Laxus.

He knew that she was strong due to her victory in her fight against Bickslow in the Battle of Fairy Tail, followed by the win that Freed and Bickslow told him about during their time on Tenrou -even if they had confessed to going easy on her and Cana as an unknowing apology to the both of them-, but to find out that her team's blunt denseness had been part of the cause in pushing her to train shocked them. Team Natsu were one of the teams that preached about 'Nakama' and 'Family' practically non-stop, so for them to not realise the bluntness of their words and insinuating that Lucy was weak in the first place angered him.

Speaking of which, Team Natsu, along with the mini-Strauss had returned two days ago from yet another mission, that Lucy wasn't with them for, and they didn't openly appear to notice her lack of presence either.

When Lucy finally turned up at the guild, a good three weeks later she headed straight through to Masters office, unknowingly catching Team Natsu's attention while doing so. She didn't leave until half an hour later. And what annoyed Laxus even more was the fact that even his enhanced hearing couldn't hear through the sound-proofing enchantment that his grandfather must have recently put into place.

The blonde left the office and walked over and took a seat at the bar, ordering a drink as she read over what looked like a mission flyer.

~oOo~

Lucy had spent the last three weeks training deep in the forest just outside of Era; it was quieter than Magnolia and she didn't have to run the risk of anyone disturbing her either.

After Capricorn had told her that she was entering the final stages of her training, she decided it would be better to train well out of the way of civilization. It had worked well until she had received a lacrima call from Gramps, asking for her to return to the guild. Something about him having another request for her.

The spirit mage had told him that she would be a few more days at the most, since she was training for the final art- having mastered the others- It would only take a few days, three at the most, to master the last one. Makarov had told her that she had a week, before he sent someone out to drag her ass back.

That lead Lucy to where she was know, heading for the guild, Plue at her side. She knew that Master wouldn't have called her back if the mission wasn't incredibly important. Dismissing Plue as she entered the guild, she called out her greetings and made her way straight to the office.

Knowing that Gramps was expecting her, she walked straight in and sat down in the armchair in front of the desk. He immediately handed her another request.

 _REQUESTING A SPIRIT MAGE_

 _OUR TOWN IS BEING HAUNTED BY AN UNKNOWN ESSENCE._

 _WE DON'T HAVE THE VESSEL BUT IT APPEARS TO BE WANDERING THE STREETS AND CAUSING HAVOC DURING LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING._

 _PLEASE HELP US!_

 _LOCATION : OSHIBANA, FIORE_

 _REWARD: 100,000 JEWEL_

 _PLEASE SEE THE MAYOR OF OSHIBANA TO ACCEPT_

Grinning, Lucy nodded, accepting the mission.

"I was expecting a scolding for my disappearance... I think that you should know, I've mastered all 8 of the Planetary Arts" she admitted.

"Care to explain them, my child?" he asked.

Over the next hour she explained about each God or Goddess where summoned with each key and the art that she had learnt from them briefly.

 **PLANETARY ARTS**

Echo, the Goddess of Sound, represents the planet Mercury

Boreas, the God of the North Wind, represents the planet Venus

Gaia, the Goddess of Earth, represents Earthland

Hephaestus, the God of Fire, represents Mars

Zeus, the God of Thunder, represents Jupiter

Erebus, the God of Darkness, represents Saturn

Aether, the God of Light, represents Uranus

Poseidon, the God of the Sea, represents Neptune

When she eventually left Gramps' office, Lucy touched Crux's key and mentally asked him to research to see if any Spirits hadn't returned to the Spirit World recently.

Making her way towards the bar and ordered a strawberry daiquiri, re-reading the flyer in her hands, the blonde folded it carefully and tucked it into her shorts pocket. Just as she was about to take a well-deserved sip of her drink, Team Natsu called her over.

Wandering towards them, Lucy took in everyone's facial expressions.

Lisanna had a look of excitement and guilt combined.

Happy was mostly paying attention to a fish, so nothing new there.

Gray looked slightly guilty.

As did Erza.

But Natsu was practically oozing confidence and excitement.

"Hi Guys!" the blonde greeted, taking a seat at the end of the table beside Gray.

"Heya Luce!" Natsu exclaimed while the others gave their usual greetings.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Lucy asked, wanting to get straight to the point.

"Well you know how you've been away from the team for a few months?" Erza asked. Lucy nodded.

"Of course, it was me who wanted to train" she said, furrowing her brow.

"We wanted to get your approval before we decided anything, but, since you've been away, we've been on several missions with Lisanna..." Gray input, slinging his arm across the back of the bench the two of them were sitting on.

After a few moments of silence that nobody wanted to fill, a look of realisation suddenly crossed her face.

"Let me guess, you want to make Lisanna a part of the team?" she asked with a smile.

"...Yeah" the girl in question whispered gently.

"So, what do you say Luce?" the fire dragon slayer asked with a grin on his face and an arm around Lisanna's shoulders.

"Of course there's no problem! I think it would be great, I mean, when I return, we can go on all sorts of missions" Lucy answered enthusiastically.

"Well that's great, thank you Lucy" Erza commented with a smile, picking up the fork that had a half-eaten piece of strawberry cake speared on its prongs.

"Yeah, thanks Lucy-chan" Lisanna replied.

"No problem, it only makes sense really, and please, call me Lucy, I'm not too keen on the honorific's" the blonde explained

The six of them -and Happy whenever he decided to chip in- spent the next hour or so catching up with each other, before Lucy checked in with Horologium, who had indeed found some information on a missing spirit.

"Hey, guys, it was great to catch up, but I need to get going, I'm heading out on a mission tonight so I really need to go pack... I'll see you all when I get back, okay?" she said, standing up from her seat beside Gray and downing the last of her drink.

"Be careful" Gray replied, dragging her back down into a one armed hung.

She was soon dragged out of her brother in all but blood's arm and crushed against the chest of Titania.

"Yes, Lucy, be careful, and good luck on your endeavour" Erza told her.

"No problem, It shouldn't be too dangerous. I'll see you all when I get back" the blonde said giving all her friends a wave as she left the guildhall.

"BYE LUCY!" "SEE YA LATER LUCE!" Lisanna and Natsu called out as she stepped through the doors.

The walk through the town to her apartment was an fairly quick one. Despite having access to more funds than she used to, the blonde had decided that she would bank most of her mission rewards, only keeping out enough for her rent and the weekly groceries that she needed.

If the occasional luxury slipped into her basket who would notice?

Stepping in perfect balance along the edge of the canal that ran through Strawberry Street, Lucy hopped off the stone ridge as she arrived at her apartment and clambered up the steps to her front door.

The apartments that had remained empty during her time here back in X784 had become occupied during her absence, and the mage was still trying to get used to the noise that sometimes seeped through the walls.

One definite perk of having more income was that she was finally able to give her home a bit of love by redecorating.

Instead of the pink palace that she had loved seven years ago, the rooms now expressed a lot more character.

The once pink walls were now covered with a dark blue wallpaper, which were covered in memoirs, paper and magazine clippings, and photographs of her family and friends from all over the place. Of course, there were far more of those from Fairy Tail, but there were several of her friends from the other guilds like Blue Pegasus and Lamia Scale.

The ceiling was still the same colour, and hundreds of tiny lacrima had been pinned to the ceiling to form the 88 constellations that were visible with the naked eye. If she was honest, it was her favourite part of her room.

The orange curtains had been replaced with a set of brown drop-down blinds to match the skirting boards, and the bed was now dressed in a blue paisley comforter set.

The furniture was all situated in the same places, now organised and uncluttered, and the sofa and armchairs had been chucked out after an 'unfortunate' fire had occurred. Instead, a well-loved, second hand leather set laid in their place.

Grabbing the travel pack that sat by the front door, the blonde started to repack her bag for the mission.

Since she was only expecting to out for a few days, Lucy only packed the necessities. Her toiletries, a three tops, a spare pair of shorts, her swimsuit, her flip-flops, and some underwear and stockings.

Once she was all packed up and had taken a dip in the bathtub, she dressed into her travelling clothes for the mission, a pair of dark blue skin-tight jeans, a pink tank top and her denim jacket, with a pair of boots on her feet.

~oOo~

Lucy arrived in Oshibana quite late that evening, leaving her no other option than to book herself into an inn for the night.

So in the morning, after eating breakfast, she checked in with Crux to see what he had found out about the missing spirit from the spirit world.

"I must say Miss Lucy, that what you have asked did take quite some digging to find. However, I have concluded that only one spirit is currently unaccounted for in the spirit world, and has been for quite some time" the wise spirit stated sleepily.

"And who is the spirit, Grandpa Crux?" Lucy asked curiously.

"The spirit, Miss Lucy, is Orion the Hunter"

~oOo~

Back at the guild, Laxus had watched as the busty blonde left on her mission, and had decided that the best way to give her the key -considering that he kept missing her- was to just leave it at her apartment.

Grunting out a goodbye to his team, he strode out of the door, and inhaled deeply as he tried to catch a hold of her scent.

The remnants of the blonde celestial spirit mage's scent trailed back down the hill and into Magnolia.

Following his nose, Laxus soon found himself wandering along the canal towards a string of red buildings.

The strangely addictive scent of Lucy Heartfilia suddenly came to a stop outside one of the larger looking buildings. An apartment building.

Looking up, the slayer noticed that only two of the windows looking out onto the street had lights shining through them; the one to the left, and the one to the right. For some reason, Laxus instinctively knew that the one in the middle was Lucy's apartment.

He entered the building, following his nose to the red door in the centre of the hallway, a neat silver plaque with the letter _B_ engraved into it. Reaching a hand out, he tried the doorknob, only to find it locked -which made sense considering no one was in-, instead, he pulled the key out of his pocket suddenly very pleased that it was wrapped up in a piece of thick cloth. He also took out the pencil and scrap of paper that he had in his trouser pocket and scrawled out a note before pushing the both of them through the letterbox.

As he turned and left the building to head home, the words that he had posted through the post box rang through his head.

 _Blondie, come and find me. L.D_

 **END OF CHAPTER**

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Hope you liked it.

Reviews welcome.

sparkplug-and-metalface


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